The business process optimization of offer management for investment goods in individual production – the case of a German medium-sized company

Abstract

The article examines a typical offer management process of a medium-sized tool manufacturing company using a qualitative, explorative research design. The objective is to explore characteristic improvement measures for optimizing the offer process on three levels: process efficiency, process effectiveness and customer orientation. The case study’s basis is a series of interviews conducted with any company employee who is in touch with the offer process. The interviews are analyzed using theoretical methods, such as benchmarking, the 7R method, the Deming cycle and the Ishikawa diagram. The purpose of the analysis is to provide results that are shaped into an action recommendation plan. The results show that creating an online product configurator (customer orientation), updating the calculation program (process efficiency) and creating a consistent offer follow-up system, will provide the highest potential for the process optimization.

Keywords

• continuous improvement of processes
• customer orientation
• manufacturing
• offer management process
• process efficiency